Sorry for not posting some sooner.
Here, Abriella was running through “rain” of the water hose. Gotta keep cool somehow!
Oh, and she thought it would be fun to rub some dirt on her swimsuit. Fabulous!
Then, she got ahold of the hose, and after Daddy convinced her not to spray him, she went for the pool, but then started whipping it back and forth. Great fun!
This next picture just reminded me of me! I just saw a lot of Miller in this picture! Maybe I’m crazy.
More smiles from Colby. The best smiles I get from him are usually on the changing table after I’ve changed him. Unfortunately, I don’t have a camera right there! But, we’ve been able to capture a few decent ones.
Oh, and to show you how much he’s grown. See the outfit he’s in above. Check this one out from 2 days old.
Another one here (show the 2 days old first this time):
Now:
Sweet one of Daddy and Son:
I have more pictures to put on here, but I’m going to go exercise now. Figured I’d go ahead and post these so that I don’t have sooo many in one post. Enjoy (Mom!).
Anybody with a Wii will recognize the term Mii. It’s the avatar you create that plays everything. Now that THAT’S cleared up, my story will continue. Last week, I decided to get back on the Wii Wagon and do some Wii Fit since my friend, Amanda, is ALWAYS out of town (love ya, Amanda!) and is soon to be moving away from the neighborhood. So, I have to have some way of exercising.
I start it up the first night, only to find that ALL batteries are dead and we have none in the house. So, night 2, I actually got it going after a trip to the big W. It welcomes me by saying, “Well, Jen, it’s been 359 days since we’ve seen you.” (For those that don’t know, this thing talks to you.) “Let’s start with a body test.” I step on, and it first tells me I’m not balanced in how I stand. Ok, fine. Then, it weighs me. “Well, Jen, you’ve gained 20.1 lbs since we saw you last!! Looks like you didn’t reach your fitness goal that you set previously. Let’s set one that you can ACTUALLY reach!” WHAT?!!! And, the kicker…it made my Mii FATTER right in front of my eyes! Thanks, Wii Fit, for the boost to my ego!!
I’m fairly certain the weight is going to be harder to get off this time. I think my metabolism has slowed to a turtle’s pace. And, I’m not even eating like I was when I was nursing Abriella. I was hungry ALL the time with her, and I still managed to lose the weight and even 5 lbs below my pre-pregnant weight. This time, I don’t have the huge appetite, yet the weight is going NO WHERE! It’s staying put for the time being. Fabulous!
Moving on from that heavy subject, I thought I’d share some more about Abriella. This is for me to remember as much as anything. So, things you’ll hear her singing and saying around the house these days are:
*Veggie Tales songs specifically, the Belly Button Song and Oh Lone Stranger. Those are the most common ones heard.
*The alphabet (didn’t realize she knew this as well as she does until I heard her singing them—she has a toy that sings the song).
*The Fruit of the Spirit —she gets the first few and some in the middle, but definitely puts emphasis on “AND SELF-CONTROL.”
*Jesus Loves Me
And, many other things. But, those are the things I can remember right now.
And, remember this. Well, here is a conversation we had the other day. I’m nursing Colby in the nursery and Abriella comes in and says, “Colby’s eating.”
Me: “Yes, Colby is eating.” Now, sitting Colby up to burp him.
Abs: “Other side,” in a very directive voice.
Me: “Well, I don’t know if he wants the other side.”
Abs: in a very commanding voice, as she turns on her heals to leave the room, “TRY IT!”
WELL, yes, ma’am, Miss La Leche League!! I had to laugh at that one!
Other news about Miss Priss is that she’s decided that naps are for the birds. For about 2 weeks or so now, instead of sleeping for 2+ hrs, she now PLAYS , TALKS, GLEEFULLY YELLS, and SINGS for 2-3 hours in her room! She doesn’t usually cry at all. Just doesn’t sleep. She never gets out of her bed either during this entire time! She flails around in her bed, climbs on the side rail, sticks her legs on the headboard, etc, but never gets out! It’s ridiculous. Then, when you finally go in to get her, she says, “HI! Good nap. Feel better! Mommy wake up? Mommy good nap, too!” I sure hope this is a phase she grows out of. She certainly needs to be napping because she is on edge when she doesn’t. She’s only actually sleeping in there about 2 times in a week. Uggh! It doesn’t matter how worn out she is either…just doesn’t sleep!
Now, for Colby. Still such a good baby! Just truly can’t complain about him at all! I have to share our Saturday night just to remember so you can give us the “Parents of the Year” award! So, we have this Angel Care Monitor. You have to turn it off when you get the baby out so that it doesn’t alarm (since it’s not detecting breathing at that point). So, I had fed Colby at 6pm and put him to bed for the night (you know, with him getting up every few hours). Well, I went grocery shopping around 7pm and while I was gone, Stephen went in to rock Colby for a few minutes one time. Well, the rest of the evening, Stephen and I were both in the living room on laptops, and he never cried. We went to our room around 10:30 and headed to bed. Still, Colby hadn’t woken up.
Right before 4am, I woke up thinking I heard him cry out, but looked at the monitor, and didn’t hear him anymore nor did I see the lights go up (you know, when they make noise, the lights go up). I’m thinking, wow, he’s sleeping a LONG time tonight! I close my eyes though for a short time, but then, I’m VERY aware of the boulders on my chest from not feeding a baby in a while! Then, I figure I’ll go and check on him, and as I get closer to his room, I realize he IS crying! (We have to have monitors because with all doors closed, we cannot hear these kiddos across the house). I walk in and see that his monitor IS NOT ON –Stephen had inadvertently left it off after rocking him!!! The poor guy is practically crawling out the back of the crib and crying and trying to find food, I’m sure! I get him out and feed him as I’m wanting relief from engorgement as much or more than he wants food! But, strangely, he didn’t seem quite as upset as I would’ve imagined for going 10 hours without eating! And, after that, he still went another 4 hours before eating again.
So, I have no idea what happened in those 10 hours! I did sit there with him after feeding him and just rocked him for a while longer than normal, loving on him. Felt so bad for the guy, but he’s obviously not starving!! Anyway, he did go 7 1/2 hours last night though, and we DID have the monitor on. Honestly, I think he’s probably in the post-growth spurt sleeping phase because before that Saturday night, he had been eating more often for a couple of days. So, who knows.
I can’t believe that next week on Monday, Colby will be 2 months old. Then, on Thursday, Abriella will be 2 years old! I’ve made their well visit check ups for the same time! I have already roped Stephen in to help me in that as it may be like a military maneuver to get them both checked out and shot up without me pulling my hair out! Should be good times!
I’ve been practicing with Abriella her age so that when she’s asked, she’ll respond correctly. Here’s how the process has gone.
Me: “Abriella, how old are you?”
Abs: “Two…” (me already praising her…) “MINUTES!”
WHAT?! Two minutes??
Try again.
Me: “Abriella, how old are you?”
Abs: “Two olds.”
Closer.
Try again:
Me: “Abriella, how old are you?”
Abs: “FORTY-SIX!” (see this post for further explanation on that number)
I GIVE UP!!
Ok, I’m on the laptop and don’t want to mess with pictures right now. Sorry folks. I have some, but am being lazy and don’t want to get on the other computer to get them. So, you’ll just have to deal with my words tonight! And, I realize, there are a LOT of words! 
Until next time!
We had our 6 wk appointment on Tuesday (technically, 6 wks was on Wednesday) and both he and I are doing great. Colby weighed in at (drumroll please) 11 lbs 1 oz!! I seriously think I must produce buttermilk or whole milk at the least. He doesn’t eat for very long most nursings and still only nurses every 3 hrs at the minimum and often goes longer at night. He often has a time at some point day or night where he goes 4 or 5 hours. We did have one night where he went nearly 8 hrs at night (I only checked on him once to make sure he was still breathing!). So, my milk must be cram packed full of calories for the dude! I’m interested to see how much he weighs and how long he is at our 2 month pedi appointment coming up soon.
He’s smiling now. Stephen and I agreed that he definitely had real smiles (not those gassy or dream ones, you know) at 5 wks (I think he had some before that too, but it was iffy). But, this week, at 6 weeks, he’s really started turning the smile machine on! I L-O-V-E gummy smiles!! So sweet. We’ve only caught some partial smiles on camera so far, but at least our camera is faster than the one we had when Abriella was a baby-baby. We just never seem to have it on hand when he’s got the huge smiles going!
We are planning Abriella’s birthday party. Can you believe she’ll be 2 in a few weeks!!?? I can’t! Well, from her behavior, I can! I think she has hit some terrible twos slightly early! There have been a few days I’ve been ready to auction her off to the highest bidder. Well, ANY bidder that would take her… She just pushes the limit in so many areas. She’s testing the boundaries all the time. Drives me nutty! This too shall pass…or, so I’ve been told!
I’ll share some funny and cute things she’s said lately though. So, I’ve been attempting to teach her the Fruit of the Spirit a little at a time. She’s doing well with it. She can name a few of them real easily. We just started this week. So, she will name them off like this: “love, joy, peace, christian.” Huh? Not sure where the christian comes in! We’re still working on them! Then, you ask her what joy means, and she replies, “Happy in the heart.” Love it!
Then, I was telling her where she lived. I told her she lived in the state of Texas and the city of Belton. So, later, I asked her what state she lived in, and she replied, “Happy in the heart.” haha! Ummm, well, ok. Then, here’s the best one. I asked her what city she lived in, and she exuberantly replied, “DODGEBALL!” That only makes sense to anyone that has watched the Veggie Tales “Moe and the Big Exit.” That’s where the story takes place. I had to laugh at that one! She also goes around saying, “I found a baby” (in the most cowboy hickish voice you can imagine)—also a quote from the same Veggie Tales. Can you tell she loves her some Wedgie Tales (that’s how she says it)?!
Anyway, here are a few pictures of the kids.
Some of our partial smiles caught on camera:
Some naked bath pictures (with strategically placed washclothes) to show how much he’s grown!
A picture of him pushing up. He has some good, strong neck muscles, which I’m sure has to do with the fact that he sleeps on his tummy. Anyway, I’ve tried to catch him pushing up. Also, a hard feat. This just doesn’t give justice to how well he can push up.
Here Abriella was playing in a basket.
Here’s dress-up in our house! We have these visors that she wanted on her. The bottom one she was saying, “Like a skirt,” and the top one…”Like a bra!” Yep, no secrets in our house!
Here’s my big baby enjoying the bouncy seat. She always says, “Strap you in!” What will I do with her??
Here she is with a pacifier. Take note, this child would NOT use a pacifier as a baby, but now she’s figured them out…not a moment too late at nearly 2 years old! She walks around with it in her mouth sometimes. Can we say…REGRESSION! haha!
Here she is in one of her more racey swimsuits! Once again, she said, “like a bra” about the top. Yes, honey, that’s like a bra. We have a little pool in the backyard that we’ve been using. I bought this for less than $5 at the end of the season at Target last year. I think the most exciting part to her about swimming is that she gets to “wear a swimsuit diaper…like panties.” Seriously, what am I going to do with her?
Waving to the camera:
She wasn’t real sure what to think of it, but warmed up to it. All of the splashing and dumping of water on her head we got on video. She really does enjoy it, but she also enjoys getting in and out, in and out….
Then, here she is being a little mama. So, she goes from being the baby to taking care of her babies. Every day is an adventure with her!
Then, here’s a picture of my sweaty girl with her hair stuck to her head who had to have her picture taken since I was taking some of Colby at the time. Lovely, eh?
Here’s her sitting in the window.
Doing the splits:
Yoga…
And, finally, a cuter picture of her wandering around the house with a frog.
Ok, I know for the average reader, this is too many pictures in one post. But, for the grandparents, you just can’t get enough, right?? Anyway, until the next insanely long and picture-filled post.
Happy Father’s Day to all those wonderful fathers out there. I’m so thankful that my kids have such a wonderful father in Stephen. God has blessed me with him and our children with him. Really makes me miss my daddy, who I was too young to remember when he went to be with our Heavenly Father. I know he’s probably looking down watching his grandkids though!
Just had to share this! What do you think she sees Mommy doing all day!?
June 15th,2009
Abriella |
7 Comments
Ok, so I’m a week late on this post! Oops! Anyway, our little guy is quickly becoming our big guy! We did an unofficial weigh-in of him the other day. This consists of daddy stepping on the scale (no way is mama doing that!) and then stepping back on it with the child. Granted this is a digital scale that only does half pounds, and Colby had clothes on. So, clearly, not the most accurate weighing. But, anyway, Colby’s weight was 10 1/2 pounds by that! Abriella didn’t weigh that much until she was 2 months old. I’m pretty sure I must produce whole milk. He even eats way less frequently than she did, but boys are just supposed to be bigger, and he is living up to that thus far! Here are a few pictures taken last Sunday. I am going to try to take a picture like this every month to watch his progression. I wish I had done the same with Abs.
Last night, he rolled from his tummy to his back in his crib. Stephen heard him crying, went it to find him in the dark, and felt something moist (his mouth!), and realized the boy had rolled over! Ok, so if you are wondering, yes, he does sleep on his tummy all the time. Initially, we did the back thing, but he would just rock himself until he got to his side. So, we put him on his side. We swaddled him for a few days, and then he decided he royally hated that, and would scream and cry until we let him free! Abriella was swaddled for 5 months, so that was new for us! Anyway, he slept on his side for a while, but then as he got fatter, he couldn’t stay up on his side, and he would flail his arms on his side and back and not go to sleep. Plus, the boy spits up and sounds like he’s drowning/dying when he does so if he’s on his back. So, we went to tummy sleeping, and he does great–he’s been sleeping on it since somewhere in the 2nd week, I believe! We have an Angelcare monitor (senses their breathing and alarms if they go 15-20 seconds without breathing), so that makes us feel more secure in allowing him to do this. Anyway, I wonder how many weeks/months it will be before he rolls again!
The child moves all over his bed, and won’t settle down until he’s right next to the bumper near the center of the room. I’ve read somewhere where babies will almost always move to the side of their bed closest to the middle of the room. Why? Well, I don’t remember reading the reason they came up with. Anyway, Abriella did the same thing. Oh, we moved him to his crib on Monday. He’s done quite well in there. We are sleeping better too! Here are some pictures to show how close he gets to the bumper. I remember being so nervous when Abriella did that, and I would move her away, but she would shimmy right back next to it (and, she did it while swaddled up tightly laying on her back—HOW IN THE WORLD!!??). Crazy babies! The only problem with him moving next to the side is that the monitor falsely alarms frequently because he’s too far away from the sensor. That’s a bit annoying. We’re probably going to move the sensor closer to that side today so that doesn’t happen.
(I think it’s crazy how my babies always look redheaded in certain lights when they’re smaller.)
Finally, here are some pictures of him on his changing table this morning. Since he’s in his room now, he gets to enjoy the mirror beside his changing table.
Ok, that’s the boy for now! Next post will probably be about our OTHER baby…the one that now walks around with a pacifier and asks to be strapped into the baby’s bouncy seat! Uggh!
WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES!
So, Melissa finished with our pictures! Woohoo! Now, she is enjoying a cruise with her husband. J-E-A-L-O-U-S!! Anyway, I’m adding the pictures here, so you can see them. Family…let me know if there are some you want…and, you can’t say ALL of them! We will be making copies to send to you guys. I thought about just adding some of the pictures she took (since I’m sure many of my friends don’t care to look at so many pictures of my kids, although I think you should!!), but since I have grandparents and great-grandparents that look at this, I decided to put them all on here (color and black and white versions). I have to say that Melissa should TOTALLY go professional in her photography! Don’t you guys think so, too?? She’s still doing it on the side, “practicing,” while she continues to teach. I wish I was this good while practicing!! THANKS, MELISSA!!
(side note: you know that most newborn pictures, the babies are actually asleep in every picture. strangely, little Colby was awake for most of this shoot. we couldn’t figure it out. thankfully, he’s not ever really had much of the normal newborn cross-eyedness, so they turned out great).
Anyway, enjoy!
Next post, I will be putting 1 month pictures of Colby up. No, we didn’t get nice ones done for this. Just a few in our house. We can’t believe he’s already a month old (as of yesterday)! Where does the time go?
(Don’t skip my Memorial Day Weekend post below this one! Another two posting day!)
I can’t believe that Colby is nearing a month old! WOW! Looking at the pictures, you can tell that he’s definitely filling out (read: his little Joyner pinhead is filling out—we can’t deny that he got that from his daddy’s side! Sorry, big guy!)! He is still sleeping good at night and most of the day. He’s still in our room. Our issue is that many of his feedings are filled with crying now. I think there are several reasons why. I think the main reason is that he doesn’t like my letdown much of the time and he nearly chokes on the amount of milk that comes rushing out! (TMI for some of you, I’m sure). He tries to keep up, but ends up gulping lots of air, and then that starts a whole other uncomfortable bout of gassiness that he’s not a fan of either. Then, he starts popping off and then bobbing back and forth to get more, but then he has big stuck burps…yadda yadda yadda. It’s just miserable for all parties. I know he’ll grow into it and he’ll love how fast it comes out eventually, but he’s not big enough to appreciate it yet. Anyway, we’re trying some different things to help the fella out. Obviously, he’s getting plenty though! I think he’d rather be a leisurely eater, but he’s being forced to be more aggressive at this point.
He has a pretty consistent routine at this point, which is nice. I don’t know how long it will stay. But, he’s fairly consistent around the clock of eating every 3- 3 1/2 hrs during the day and every 4 or more at night (which only puts him at 1-2 times at night). I feed him on demand as I did Abriella, but he just spaces his feedings more naturally than she did. We have started bathing him every night as he just loves it! He just totally relaxes in the bath.
Abriella still adores him. She points out his “little” everything—”little toes,” “little arms,” etc. It’s really cute. She gives him kisses and hugs and says, “Colby– Love him!” She still doesn’t like it when I sit down to feed him as that is when she suddenly needs everything that I can’t get her! She gets aggravated then, as do I, as I’m constantly having to reprimand her while I’m trying to feed Colby. Hmmm, maybe that’s why he isn’t enjoying nursing sometimes! HA!
We have decided that Abriella would really benefit from going to a preschool or Mother’s Day Out type thing next year. I think every program around here has a waiting list. We are putting her on the waiting list for the T/Th preschool that’s at our church for the fall. Hopefully, she’ll be able to attend that. I think she’d really enjoy it, and it’d give me some one on one time with Colby a couple of days a week too. So, we’ll see how that goes.
Well, without further delay, I’ll add some more pictures of the kids!
As always, we love to eat in style around here! (Oh and for any of you fashion gurus out there, yes, I realize my child has a rather interesting combo going on. She loves to go into her room and “pick” out her clothes, and, unless we have somewhere to go, I let her wear whatever she brings me!).
This was her on Sunday:
Not happy with the mini photo shoot! HAHA!
Well, I think that catches me up on the picture front. Sorry for the brief blog silence. I’ll try to keep up better!
Papaw, Gammy, and Uncle Nat came to visit for Memorial Day Weekend. I’m fairly certain Abriella thought they came JUST to see HER! She had a blast with all of them! On Saturday, they all went to play disc golf while I stayed at home with the baby (and took a nap!). From the pictures, it looked like they had a blast!
I thought it was funny that Janet and Abriella basically had the same color scheme going on. Too cute!
I love this next sequence of pictures as Abriella makes it down a slide.
That afternoon, it was raining pretty hard, but that didn’t stop Abriella from playing outside!
On Sunday, we went to another park, where they have just opened a new splash pad. We didn’t actually know this going there, so we didn’t have a swimsuit with us, but extra clothes were in the car, so Abriella was all for it. However, the child is still not too sure about water getting in her face. Uggh! Colby was ready to go though!
Talking about the game plan with Uncle Nat:
She wanted to be held pretty much the entire time! Spoiled!!
And, of course, what would a trip to the park be without going down a slide?!
Well, by looking at the pictures, you’d think they DID just come for Abriella. There was a lot of passing around of Colby, but I see we didn’t take any pictures of that! I didn’t take ANY of the above pictures, and I guess I just decided to NEVER pick up the camera while they were here. Ooops. Anyway, we had a great time with them visiting, and Janet cooked a great ham that we are STILL eating on!
Abriella was so sad when they left that there were many tears shed. She just adores all of her grandparents and she had a fabulous time with Uncle Nat as well. She still mentions his name regularly.
On Tuesday, Brittany came so she could go to an audition on Wednesday in Austin. She stayed Wed night as well, and hung out with me and the kiddos on Thursday. Abriella had fun with her, but she’s had several uncles visit recently that she was a little confused and was saying Uncle Brittany! HAHA! She would say Aunt occasionally, but mostly it was Uncle. It was pretty funny.
Anyway, that was that week. I’ll add more pictures of the younger one in the next couple of days. I’m trying to catch up!
If you missed the first one (since I’m posting twice in one day), make sure and scroll down to see it!
For any of those out there that don’t think Abriella looks anything like me, take a look at these pictures. Maybe reconsider. These are all pictures of yours truly. Hope the nude picture doesn’t offend anyone! HA!
Another thing to mention as we stroll down memory lane here. As a child, my Mom used to ask if she could help me, and I would reply, “I help me.” I was a very independent child. Well, I saw myself in my child (yet again) a few weeks ago when we asked her if we could help her, and she replied, “No. Ella do it!” She says this often. (FYI: She calls herself Ella pretty much all the time).
Anyway, enjoy the 2 random posts!
These two do not mix well. As I received yet another catalog in the mail today with the skinny models sporting the latest swimsuit fashions, I was again reminded of how I do NOT want to be in a swimsuit right now. Could I even FIT into any of the swimsuits I own?? No way! Oh well. Colby was worth it, of course! I could, however, go for one of these swimsuits! What do you think??? Are you ready for the swimsuit season?
Yes, I know this was a random post. I will post a real post with pictures of my beautiful kiddos again soon!
